Abstract

Explanatory reasoning infers hypothetical explanations of observations. Instances of explanatory reasoning include classification-oriented induction and abduction. Confirmatory reasoning infers hypotheses confirmed by observations. Many non-classificatory data-mining tasks embody confirmatory reasoning. In this chapter we study the rationality of explanatory and confirmatory reasoning from a meta-logical perspective. We take a neutral perspective on the abduction/induction debate by mostly avoiding these terms.